Paul Cowdell on Nostr: I read Latin and Greek at school (Latin from age 11, Greek from 13, doing both at ...

I read Latin and Greek at school (Latin from age 11, Greek from 13, doing both at GCSE O Level and A Level), and carried on with them at undergraduate level (BA). The Greek I read at school was mostly Attic (plus Homer), but we were encouraged to be interested generally. So, doing some extra reading as exam preparation, I did a little bit of book 1 of Herodotus, which I enjoyed. (I enjoyed it even more when an Atticised version of a bit I'd already read turned up as an unseen translation exercise in one of my exams, making me look /really good/!)

I didn't study him closely either at school or university, although I kept coming back to him and occasionally writing essays on him. And I found (find!) him endlessly curious, sage about variation in human cultures and hugely engaging. There's a compassionate interest in his writing that chimes well for a folklorist.